Former Peabody vice-chair to lead L&G’s Affordable Homes board

Mr Gould has over 30 years’ experience in financial services and consulting, focusing on governance, risk and audit, L&G said. He was chief internal auditor at the International Bank of Qatar and later led the internal audit’s strategic initiatives and support operations at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

He is a non-executive director and chair of audit and risk committee for both Grand Union Housing Group and Look Ahead. Until recently, he served as a non-executive director and chaired the audit committee at the Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Lastly, Kathryn Davis has also joined the board of L&G Affordable Homes with immediate effect as the new independent non-executive director.

The new role aims to ensure that independent non-executive directors are in the majority as part of a continued focus on achieving best practice in governance, L&G said.

Ms Davis brings commercial and governance skills, along with housing association experience to the board.

She was previously a non-executive director and chair of the treasury committee at the 57,000-home Metropolitan Thames Valley. She has 26 years’ experience at city law firm Slaughter and May, where she was corporate partner for 17 years. 

Ms Davis is also an external member of the University of Oxford’s audit and scrutiny committee; a non-executive director, deputy chair of council and chair of the estates committee at the Girls’ Day School Trust; and a visiting senior fellow in practice at LSE Law School.

L&G started its Affordable Homes arm in 2018. It offers homes for social and affordable rent, as well as shared ownership, and aims to deliver 3,000 new affordable homes annually by 2023.

Simon Century, managing director – housing at Legal & General Capital, said, “I’d like to thank Ian Graham for his excellent stewardship of the board since 2018, along with Karen Wilson as chair of the risk and audit committee.

“Both have helped to establish Legal & General Affordable Homes and contributed to building our portfolio to over 3,000 homes during their tenure with over 7,000 under contract, along with receiving top in-depth assessment scores from the regulator.”

“I’m delighted to welcome Ian Peters as the new chair of the board. Ian has worked across a wide range of industries, along with his role on the boards of housing associations; his experience will be key in leading the charge as Legal & General Affordable Homes scales up to deliver thousands of high-quality, sustainable and affordable homes, directly and through effective partnerships.”

Ben Denton, chief executive of L&G Affordable Homes, added: “We are well placed to fill the huge affordable housing gap, working in partnership with the sector. We’ll keep affordability, sustainability and customer service as our watch words as we grow to meet cross-tenure demand nationwide. And with our refreshed and enhanced board, we will continue to meet governance and regulatory targets as we work on our ambitious pipeline.”